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title: Microsoft Azure Fundamentals Certification Course (AZ-900) - Pass the exam in 3 hours! author: [Your Name]

date: April 16, 2024

Welcome to Your Azure Fundamentals Certification Journey!

Hey everyone, welcome to the Azure Fundamentals Certification course! Whether you're entirely new to cloud computing or looking to expand your skills, you're in the right place. I'm excited to guide you through this journey towards becoming Azure certified.

What's Covered in This Course?

In this course, we'll cover everything you need to know to ace the AZ-900 exam, also known as the Azure Fundamentals Certification. Here's a sneak peek of what's in store:

1. Understanding Azure: We'll dive into the core concepts and services offered by Azure, equipping you with a solid foundation in cloud computing.
2. Hands-On Experience: Get ready to roll up your sleeves and explore the Azure portal firsthand. Practical experience is key to mastering Azure fundamentals.
3. Preparing for Success: I'll share tips and resources to help you prepare for the exam, from study schedules to practice exams.

About the AZ-900 Certification

The AZ-900 certification is your entry ticket into the world of Microsoft Azure. It's designed for individuals who want to demonstrate their understanding of cloud concepts and Azure services. Whether you're a developer, sales professional, or manager, this certification can boost your career prospects.

Why Azure Certification Matters

You might be wondering, why bother with the AZ-900 certification? Here's why it's worth your time:

• Career Growth: Azure certifications open doors to exciting career opportunities in cloud computing.
• Confidence Building: Start with the fundamentals to build confidence before tackling more advanced certifications.
• Industry Recognition: Employers value Azure-certified professionals, making you a desirable candidate in today's job market.

How to Get Started

Ready to embark on your Azure journey? Here's what you need to do:

1. Set Aside Study Time: Depending on your background, allocate 8 to 20 hours of study time spread over seven days.
2. Exam Booking: Decide whether you'll take the exam in person at a test center or from the comfort of your home using Pearson VUE.
3. Study Approach: Watch video lectures, engage in hands-on labs, and practice with online exams to reinforce your learning.

Exam Overview

The AZ-900 exam covers four key domains:

• Cloud Concepts
• Azure Core Services
• Security, Privacy, Compliance, and Trust
• Pricing and Support

You'll need to score at least 700 out of 1000 to pass, with the exam comprising 40 to 60 questions. Remember, aim for a score above 75% to ensure success.

Certification Validity

Upon passing the exam, your AZ-900 certification will be valid for 24 months. This means you'll have two years to showcase your Azure expertise before needing to recertify.

Overview of Cloud Computing

• Dedicated servers: Single physical machine for one specific business, expensive and high maintenance, high customization and potentially better security.
• Virtual private servers: Virtualizing a physical machine into sub machines, better utilization of resources.
• Shared hosting: One physical machine shared by multiple businesses, relies on tenants underutilizing resources, cheaper but with limitations.
• Cloud hosting: Multiple physical machines acting as one system, highly flexible, scalable, secure, cost-effective, and configurable.

Common Cloud Services

• Four common types of cloud services for infrastructure: compute, storage, networking, databases.
• Cloud computing serves as a catch-all term for various categories such as compute, network, storage, and databases.

Microsoft and Azure

• Microsoft: American multinational corporation known for software, cloud services, and operating systems.
• Azure: Microsoft's cloud service provider, offering flexibility, scalability, and cost-effectiveness.

Benefits of Cloud Computing

• Cost-effectiveness, global reach, security, reliability, scalability, elasticity, and current technology upgrades provided by the cloud provider.

Types of Cloud Computing

• Software as a Service (SaaS): Managed by the service provider, examples include Salesforce, Gmail, and Office 365.
• Platform as a Service (PaaS): Focuses on development and management of applications, examples include Elastic Beanstalk, Heroku, and Google App Engine.
• Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS): Basic building blocks of cloud computing, provides access to networking features, computers, and storage space.

Cloud Computing Responsibilities

• Responsibilities vary across on-premise, IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS models, with the cloud service provider handling more responsibilities as you move up the stack.

Azure Deployment Models

• Public Cloud: Built entirely on the cloud service provider's infrastructure.
• Private Cloud: Built on the company's data centers or on-premise infrastructure.
• Hybrid Cloud: Combination of on-premise and cloud services, connected through various networking services.
• Cross Cloud (optional): Using multiple cloud providers, becoming popular with large organizations.

Total Cost of Ownership

• Introduction

  • Exploring the concept of total cost of ownership (TCO) comparing on-premise and Azure.
  • Discussion on capex and opex coming up.

• Visual Representation

  • Iceberg analogy used to illustrate TCO.
  • Top represents visible costs, bottom represents hidden costs.
  • Subscription fees in Azure sometimes exceed software license fees.

• Comparison

  • On-premise:
    • Implementation, configuration, training.
    • Physical security, hardware, IT personnel, maintenance.
  • Cloud:
    • Implementation, configuration, training.
    • Azure handles the rest.
  • Transition to Azure can save up to 75% of costs.

Capital vs Operational Expenditure

• Capital Expenditure (CapEx)

  • Spending upfront on physical infrastructure, deducted from tax bill over time.
  • Involves purchasing physical assets like servers, storage, network equipment.
  • Upfront guesswork on expenses required.

• Operational Expenditure (OpEx)

  • Shifting on-prem costs to the cloud service provider.
  • Focus on non-physical costs like leasing software, training, cloud support, etc.
  • Allows flexibility in investment without upfront expenses.

Cloud Architecture Terminologies

• Key Terms
  • Availability: Ensuring service remains available (HA).
  • Scalability: Ability to grow rapidly.
  • Elasticity: Ability to shrink/grow to meet demand.
  • Fault Tolerance: Preventing failures.
  • Disaster Recovery: Recovering from failures.

High Availability

• Definition
  • Ensuring service remains available without single points of failure.
  • Illustration of technical architecture for high availability.
  • Utilizing multiple servers across multiple data centers.
  • Azure load balancer for traffic distribution.

High Scalability

• Scalability Types
  • Vertical: Scaling up by upgrading to larger servers.
  • Horizontal: Scaling out by adding more servers.
  • Emphasis on horizontal scaling for multiple servers.

High Elasticity

• Definition
  • Automatically increasing/decreasing capacity based on demand.
  • Achieved through horizontal scaling, adding/removing servers.
  • Utilization of Azure VM scale sets for dynamic scaling.

High Durability

• Definition
  • Ability to recover from disaster and prevent data loss.
  • Includes disaster recovery solutions and backup strategies.
  • Ensures continuous availability and data integrity.

Evolution of Computing

• Dedicated Servers

  • Physical servers dedicated to single customer.
  • Challenges with capacity planning and resource utilization.
  • Full control but limited flexibility.

• Virtual Machines (VMs)

  • Multiple VMs on single physical server.
  • Shared resources among customers, increased efficiency.
  • Limited by guest OS, conflicts in resource sharing.

• Containers

  • Running multiple containers within VM or physical server.
  • Maximized resource utilization, cost-effective.
  • Share underlying OS, more efficient than VMs.
  • Flexibility in running different OS within containers.

• Functions

  • Subdivision of computing further.
  • Managed VMs running managed containers provide better utility of compute.
  • Functions break up applications into smaller pieces of code, enhancing scalability.
  • Serverless compute, like Azure Functions, allows code to run without managing servers.
  • With serverless compute, you only pay for the resources your code consumes.
  • Cold starts may occur with serverless compute, where there's a delay in executing code due to server provisioning.
  • Despite cold starts, serverless compute is extremely cost-effective and efficient.

Regions and Geographies for Azure

• Azure regions consist of multiple data centers, known as availability zones.
• Azure offers 58 regions across 140 countries, emphasizing its global reach.
• Geographies ensure data residency and compliance, such as Azure Government for the US.
• Choosing the right geography ensures data remains within specific regulatory boundaries.
• Azure's global infrastructure spans across continents, providing extensive coverage.

Paired Regions

• Each Azure region is paired with another region 300 miles away for redundancy.
• Paired regions ensure availability during updates or failures in one region.
• Azure services may rely on paired regions for disaster recovery.
• Azure offers features like Azure Geo-redundant Storage for data replication across paired regions.

Region Types and Service Availability

• Azure offers recommended regions with broad service capabilities and support for availability zones.
• Alternate regions extend Azure's footprint but may lack support for availability zones.
• General availability (GA) indicates a service is ready for public use.
• Azure categorizes services based on availability into foundational, mainstream, and specialized categories.

Special Regions for Azure

• Azure offers specialized regions to meet compliance or legal requirements.
• Special regions cater to specific government needs or unique partnerships, like the US and China regions.
• These regions ensure regulatory compliance and data sovereignty for specific entities.

Availability Zones (AZ) for Azure

• Availability zones are physical locations with one or more data centers, ensuring high availability.
• A region typically contains three availability zones, isolated but close enough for low-latency communication.
• Workloads are recommended to run across multiple availability zones for high availability.
• Not all regions support availability zones, and it's essential to choose regions that do for critical workloads.

Fault and Update Domains

• Availability zones consist of fault and update domains to minimize downtime.
• Fault domains group hardware to avoid single points of failure, while update domains manage update schedules.
• Azure uses availability sets to ensure VMs are distributed across fault and update domains.
• Availability sets prevent downtime by spreading VMs across different domains within a data center.
• Azure updates domains when it needs to apply updates to the underlying hardware and software.
• These updates may take machines offline temporarily.
• To avoid downtime, you can distribute your workloads across different fault and update domains.
• Fault domains: represent different physical hardware within a datacenter.
• Update domains: represent groups of machines that can be updated independently.
• Availability sets: logical groupings in Azure to ensure VMs are placed in different fault and update domains.
• In the Azure portal, you can create an availability set and specify the fault and update domains for your VMs.
• The goal is to distribute your VMs across different fault and update domains to ensure high availability.
• Azure provides options to manage fault and update domains when launching a virtual machine.

Creating an Azure Account

• Visit Azure.microsoft.com and click on "Free account" to sign up.
• Provide necessary details and follow the steps to create an account.
• You may need to verify your identity through email and phone verification.
• Once the account is created, you'll have access to the Azure portal with free credits.

Customizing Azure Portal Experience

• You can customize the Azure portal experience by clicking on the cog icon.
• Options include changing the default view, switching to dark mode, or using high contrast.
• Customizing the portal can enhance user experience and productivity.

Overview of Azure Computing Services

• Azure offers various computing services, including:
  • Azure Virtual Machines: For running workloads on virtualized servers.
  • Azure Container Instances: Docker-as-a-service for running containerized apps without managing servers.
  • Azure Kubernetes Service: Managed Kubernetes for deploying, managing, and scaling containerized applications.
  • Azure Service Fabric: Enterprise container-as-a-service platform for deploying and managing microservices.
  • Azure Functions: Event-driven serverless compute for running small code snippets without managing servers.
  • Azure Batch: Service for executing batch compute workloads across multiple jobs in parallel.

Overview of Azure Storage Services

• Azure provides different storage services, including:
  • Azure Blob Storage: Object serverless storage for storing large amounts of unstructured data.
  • Azure Disk Storage: Virtual volumes attached to virtual machines with encryption and choice of SSD or HDD.
  • Azure File Storage: Shared volume accessible like a file server using SMB protocols.
  • Azure Queue Storage: Messaging queue for reliable message delivery between applications.
  • Azure Table Storage: NoSQL database for storing unstructured data independently from any schema.
  • Azure Data Box: Rugged device for moving terabytes or petabytes of data to Azure.
  • Azure Archive Storage: Long-term cold storage for holding inactive data at low cost.
  • Azure Data Lake Storage: Centralized repository for storing structured and unstructured data at any scale.

Overview of Azure Database Services

• Azure offers various database services, including:
  • Azure Cosmos DB: Fully managed NoSQL database designed for scale with high availability.
  • Azure SQL Database: Fully managed MS SQL database with auto scale, intelligence, and security features.
  • Azure Database: Fully managed and scalable databases for MySQL, PostgreSQL, and MongoDB.
  • SQL Server on VMs: Running SQL Server on virtual machines with Azure's infrastructure management.

Azure Database Services

• Azure SQL Database: Fully managed relational database service. Similar to SQL Server.
• Azure Database for MySQL/PostgreSQL: Fully managed community-based database services.
• SQL Server on Azure Virtual Machines: Lift and shift approach for moving on-premise SQL servers to Azure.
• Azure Synapse Analytics: Previously known as Azure SQL Data Warehouse, offers analytics component.
• Azure Database Migration Service: Migrate databases to the cloud with no application code changes.
• Azure Cache for Redis: In-memory cache using open-source Redis.
• Azure Table Storage: Column NoSQL database for unstructured data, independent of any schema.

Application Integration Services

• Azure Notifications Hub: Send push notifications to any platform from any backend.
• Azure API Apps: API gateway for quickly building and consuming APIs in the cloud.
• Azure Service Bus: Reliable cloud messaging as a service for hybrid integration.
• Azure Stream Analytics: Serverless, real-time analytics from cloud to edge.
• Azure Logic Apps: Automate orchestration of tasks, business processes, and workflows.
• Azure API Management: Hybrid multicloud management platform for APIs.
• Azure Queue Storage: Messaging queue for reliably delivering messages between applications.

Developer and Mobile Tools

• Azure SignalR Service: Real-time messaging service for adding real-time web functionality.
• Azure App Service: Easy-to-use service for deploying and scaling web applications.
• Visual Studio: Integrated development environment for creating applications for Azure.
• Xamarin: Mobile app framework for creating native mobile apps with .NET and Azure.

Azure DevOps Services

• Azure Boards: Agile tools for planning, tracking, and discussing work across teams.
• Azure Pipelines: CI/CD for building, testing, and deploying applications with any language or platform.
• Azure Repos: Cloud-hosted private Git repos for collaboration with pull requests.
• Azure Test Plans: Manual and exploratory testing tools for testing and shipping with confidence.
• Azure Artifacts: Package management for CI/CD pipelines.
• Azure DevTest Labs: Easy way to create dev test environments for developers.

Azure Resource Manager

• Infrastructure as Code (IAC): Manage and provision data centers through machine-readable definition files.
• Azure Resource Manager (ARM): Programmatically create Azure resources via JSON templates.

Azure Quickstart Templates

• Library of pre-made ARM templates provided by the community for quickly launching new projects.

Azure Virtual Networks and Subnets

• Virtual Network (VNet): Logically isolated section of the Azure network for launching resources.
• Subnets: Logical partition of an IP network into smaller segments within a VNet.
• CIDR Range: Allocation of IP addresses for a VNet or subnet.
• Public vs. Private Subnets: Public subnets can reach the internet, while private subnets cannot.

Cloud Native Networking Services

• Azure DNS: Ultra-fast DNS responses and high domain availability.
• Azure Virtual Network: Logically isolated section of the Azure network for launching resources.
• Azure Load Balancer: Load balancer at level four transport for distributing network traffic.
• Azure Application Gateway: HTTP load balancer with routing and web application firewall capabilities.
• Network Security Groups: Virtual firewall for protecting subnets.

Enterprise or Hybrid Networking Services

• Azure Front Door: Global entry point for web applications with intelligent routing and load balancing.

Networking Services on Azure

• Azure Express Route:

  • Secure connection between on-premises and Azure cloud.
  • Speed: 50 Mbps to 10 Gbps.
  • Secure and fast connection for on-premises data centers to Azure.

• Virtual LAN (VLAN):

  • Network service combining various functionalities for easier networking management.
  • Utilizes a hub-spoke model.

• Azure Connection:

  • VPN connection for secure connectivity to Azure local networks via IPsec.

• Virtual Network Gateway:

  • Site-to-site VPN connection between Azure virtual network and local network.

Azure Traffic Manager

• Operation:

  • Operates at DNS layer to direct incoming DNS requests based on chosen routing method.
  • Routing methods: Performance, Weighted, Priority, Geographic, Multivalue, Subnet.

• Use Cases:

  • Geographically routing traffic to reduce latency.
  • Failover to redundant systems.
  • Random routing for A/B testing.

Azure DNS

• Functionality:
  • Host domain names on Azure, manage DNS zones, and records.
  • Allows adding subdomains and routing to load balancers or virtual machines.
  • Note: Does not support purchasing domains.

Azure Load Balancer

• Purpose:
  • Distributes incoming network traffic across backend resources or servers.
  • Operates at OSI layer four (transport layer).
  • Supports both public and private load balancing.

Azure Scale Sets

• Functionality:
  • Groups identical virtual machines to automatically scale based on CPU, memory, disk, or network performance.
  • Offers elasticity for automatically adjusting server capacity.

IoT Services on Azure

• Definition: Internet of Things (IoT) - Network of internet-connected objects exchanging data.
• Services:
  • IoT Central: Connects IoT devices to the cloud.
  • IoT Hub: Enables secure communications between IoT applications and devices.
  • IoT Edge: Allows data processing near IoT devices, facilitating edge computing.
  • Windows 10 IoT Core Services: Provides essential services for commercializing devices on Windows IoT Core.

Big Data and Analytics Services on Azure

• Big Data:
  • Term for massive volumes of structured and unstructured data requiring specialized processing.
• Services:
  • Azure Synapse Analytics: Enterprise data warehousing and big data analytics.
  • HDInsight: Runs open-source analytics software like Hadoop, Kafka, and Spark.
  • Azure Databricks: Apache Spark-based analytics platform optimized for Azure.
  • Data Lake Analytics: On-demand analytics job service simplifying big data processing.

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Services on Azure

• Definitions:
  • Artificial Intelligence (AI): Machines mimicking human behavior.
  • Machine Learning (ML): Machines improving at tasks without explicit programming.
  • Deep Learning: Machines using artificial neural networks to solve complex problems.
• Services:
  • Azure Machine Learning Service: Simplifies running AI/ML workloads with flexible pipelines.
  • Various AI services for personalized experiences, text translation, anomaly detection, document processing, computer vision, language understanding, Q&A bots, text analytics, content moderation, and facial recognition.

Serverless Services on Azure

• Characteristics:
  • Infrastructure and OS management handled by cloud provider.
  • Event-driven scalability.
  • Abstraction of servers using functions.
  • Micro-billing for precise usage.

Serverless Computing and Azure Services

• Serverless functions bill in microsecond, saving money by not paying for unused computation.
• Azure Functions: Run small code snippets known as serverless functions in various languages like C#, Java, JavaScript, Python, and PowerShell.
• Blob Storage: Serverless object storage offering virtually unlimited space for uploading large files.
• Logic Apps: Build serverless workflows composed of Azure Functions, akin to building a state machine for serverless compute.
• Event Bridge: Utilizes pub-sub messaging systems to react to events and trigger other Azure cloud services.

Azure Portal

• Azure Portal: Web-based unified console for managing Azure subscriptions, offering a visual alternative to command-line tools.
• Access Azure services, build, manage, and monitor everything from simple web apps to complex cloud deployments.
• Azure Preview Portal provides early access to new features, products, previews, betas, or pre-releases.

PowerShell for Azure

• PowerShell is a command-line shell and scripting language, built on top of the .NET Common Language Runtime (CLR).
• Azure PowerShell offers commandlets for managing Azure resources directly from the command line.
• Available on Azure through Cloud Shell, providing an interactive authenticated browser-accessible shell.

Visual Studio Code

• Visual Studio Code: Free source code editor by Microsoft for Windows, Linux, and macOS, with cloud deployment options.
• Not to be confused with Visual Studio, which is an IDE for programming.
• Highly extensible with plugins, making it a popular choice among developers.

Azure Cloud Shell

• Azure Cloud Shell: Interactive authenticated browser-accessible shell for managing Azure resources.
• Offers flexibility in choosing between bash or PowerShell for managing Azure resources.

Azure Command Line Interface (CLI)

• Azure CLI: Command-line interface for managing Azure resources through text-based commands.
• Installed on Windows, Mac, and Linux, allowing users to create, update, delete, view, and manage Azure resources programmatically.

Resource Group Creation

• Resource Group: Essential for launching Azure resources, acts as a container for managing and organizing resources.
• Created via the Azure Portal by specifying a name and location, typically tied to a specific project or environment.

Virtual Network Creation

• Virtual Network (VNet): Essential for networking in Azure, provides a private network within Azure's infrastructure.
• Created via the Azure Portal, specifying settings such as IP address space, subnets, security, and DDoS protection.

Launching a Virtual Machine

• Virtual Machine (VM): Provides computing resources on Azure, can be launched via the Azure Portal.
• Specify resource group, VM name, region, OS type, size, and authentication method (password or SSH key) during VM creation.